NothingToDread.com

What is it about the first day of daylight savings time that always makes me feel like more than an hour was tacked on to my day? Thank god the day doesn't fall on a Monday... shish sheesh! Screw you autocorrect... I'll type shish sheesh if I want to! I don't care if you do think that it should be shish. Shish wouldn't make sense in this context, would it? Why am I arguing with autocorrect? Back to my point before my OS so rudely interrupted me... Ok, autocorrect, you are correct, interrupted does work better than what I initially typed... Where was I? Hell, I don't remember.

Today just felt long. It wasn't a bad day. It was actually a pleasant day. I had a long chat with a friend in Greece. As a matter of fact, I believe a personal record was broken today. She says she didn't do it, but I'm pretty sure that she flipped me off from someplace across the Atlantic. I've never been flipped off from that far away. Did I mention that it was a video chat? Well, it was a video chat, and I distinctly saw her social finger. I don't care if she does insist that it was her index finger. Why would anybody display her index finger in that manner? Nope, it was her social/middle finger. I'm sure of it... I've been flipped off by a lot of people, and I know a middle finger when I see one.

Latter today, I went on a rambling 20.54 mile ride around town. I didn't follow any particular route. I just enjoyed the warm weather. I know that the cold shouldn't make much of a difference once I get going, but I'm dreading the part of my "winter" rides that fall between the time I start and the time I get warmed up. Ok, I live in a place that doesn't technically get winter, but I still feel the cold. If I lived someplace with real winters, I'd could justify spending more money on staying warm, but it just doesn't get cold enough for that here. Do you see my quandary? I'll pretend that I saw you nod. Since we don't have a video feed going, I'll just be forced to rely on my imagination. You should see what you're doing.

At some point during my twenty-four mile morning ride yesterday, I overlooked an important milestone on my road to better health and fitness. While I watched the trail for road hazards, potholes, broken glass, and other tire and spoke busting obstacles, the odometer on my bike quietly counted past the one thousand mile mark. One thousand miles since November 26, 2007, has meant shedding the equivalent weight of a case of chuck roll from my long tortured frame.

Those one thousand miles led to my minor participation in Sunday's Acura LA Bike Tour in conjunction with the Los Angeles Marathon, and they've allowed me to participate in several other activities that previously kicked my formerly fat ass. Just think, if I only had some direction in my life instead of just meandering around town, I could have reached Pecos, Texas by now.

I'm hoping that the next thousand miles brings even more exiting changes to my life. I doubt that I'll ever be willing to actually run in a Marathon, but I have already registered to ride in the bike tour portion of the upcoming Long Beach Marathon. I've also given some thought to perhaps running a 5K, 10K, or even a biathlon. I'm not sure what's in store for me along the next thousand miles, but the last thousand taught me that anything is possible.

2:30 am! What the hell was I thinking when I made that decision?

I never sleep very well when I know that I have to wake up especially early in the morning. I really didn't sleep well knowing that my MacBook Pro/iTunes/Automator alarm clock was set to go off at 02:30 in the am. I tossed, I turned, and I suppose I slept a bit before being awakened by the sounds of the bouzouki introduction to the Falirotissa by Yiannis Papaioanou). I managed to roll my still cursing formerly fat ass out of bed and pointed my still shrinking belly towards the kitchen for a cup of automatically activated freshly brewed coffee. Thank god for timers. I poured a cup, scalded my throat, and poured another before sitting down for a simple breakfast of yogurt and fresh fruit (Strawberries and bananas).

I got dressed, loaded the truck, and pointed it towards Expedition Park in Los Angeles. Since I only took one wrong turn, I found myself standing on the starting line for the Acura L.A. Bike Tour along with a handful of other early risers. The horde formed and the powers that be turned us loose on that deserted stretch of Los Angeles streets that made up our little slice of the Los Angeles Marathon route.

This morning's event was my first organized cycling event. I have to admit that I got a little emotional. I admit that I was slightly intimidated by the initial the crush, but the majority of the twenty-one odd miles of the Bike Tour were rather pleasant. It wasn't a race, but more than a few Racer X motherfuckers made the first mile or so resemble an attack of killer locusts, but once things thinned out a bit, one could safely pass slower riders without resembling a torpedo bomber dodging ack ack flack.

The route had its ups and downs. There were plenty of downhill grades that provided a pleasant rest, but there were also a couple of hills that definitely got my heart rate going. There aren't a lot of hills on my typical morning route, but I did ok. I'm glad I participated in this year's Acura LA Bike Tour, and I'm already looking forward to next year's event.

I hit the road this morning planning to take my normal weekday ten-mile ride. That was my plan, but the weather was great and I began to meander one way and then the next. I cut down the riverbed until I hit the ocean.  Θάλατα, Θάλατα! I must be genetically preprogrammed to experience a sense of joy and exhilaration when I encounter the sea. It never fails to put a smile on my face.

Arriving at the Pacific Ocean left me with several choices. I could ride south to Mexico, or north to Alaska along the Pacific Coast Highway. Neither choice seemed particularly appealing, so I opted to head back in the direction from whence I came.

I took a fork in the river and rode over to the cemetery that holds my father's remains. I always feel guilty for not going there more often, but the truth is that I never truly experience a sense of him there. I mostly feel him with me when I'm at home, or on the road. I'm sure he got as far away from that cemetary as he could right after we planted his casket. Wouldn't you?. Anyway, I paid his grave a visit and then doubled back on my trail towards the aforementioned fork. I'm sure that any Texas Rangers or renegade Comanche on my trail were thorougly confused by that maneuver.

I rode back to the fork and took the previously untaken path back towards the Lindora Weight Loss Clinic. I weighed in at a prime 217.8 pounds. There was no weight loss because I'm in a metabolic adjustment stage that allows me to consume more calories than the weight loss stage. From there I rode home and put my bike away. My total mileage for the day was 32.2 miles. If you've been paying attention, you already know that that's 22.2 miles more than I intended to ride when I hit the trail.

Hey... Did I mention that the inevitable finally happened today? I finally went flying off my bike. I was ten miles into a fifteen mile ride when it happened. There's a stretch of road near a large shopping mall and directly adjacent to a major auto center. By auto center, I mean that section of town where all the new car dealers gather to compete with one another. Acre upon acre of shiny new cars all gathered in the same place for your consumer consideration. The whole area is a Mecca for distracted drivers, and it's directly on my route to and from my local Lindora weight loss clinic. It's also the part of my ride where I'm least likely to want to be on the street. As a result, I tend to ride on the sidewalk until I'm clear of the area. It's not too bad. I seldom run into a pedestrian. If I do run into a pedestrian, I always grant them right of way and a wide berth. My civic-minded good nature could have been the end of me today.

Ok, so there I was minding my own business riding away on the public sidewalk when I see an approaching pedestrian. What the hell... They feel all warm and safe walking on my bike path; I can stray onto their sidewalk when I need to feel safe on my bike. Anyway, there I am riding on the old sidewalk when I spot a prime example of the North American pedestrian) Civic minded cyclist that I am, I detoured onto a strip of grass allowing the bipod sufficient room to continue on her path undisturbed. It wasn't until I was well clear of the lovely lady that life took its catastrophic turn. I passed the pedestrian and turned my bicycle's handlebars towards the sidewalk. I turned towards the sidewalk, and my front wheel sunk into a rut that ran between the well-manicured lawn and city sidewalk. I tried to slow down. I tried to right myself. I tried to avoid the fall, but gravity is a bitch.

I abandoned all hope of staying on the bike, and let the laws of physics do that thing they do so well. The bike went one way; I went the other way. I fell properly. I slid on my shoulder and side. I landed on grass, and managed to maintain contact between fabric and ground. Slow motion kicked in, and I looked in the direction of my slide to discover that my helmet protected cranium was on a direct collision course with a concrete pillar. Thank got for slow motion. I had time to roll and averted the cranial impact. Helmet or not, I'm not a crash test dummy. My knee suffered a minor grass burn. I jumped to my feet, righted the bike, and reinstalled the chain that had slipped of the front derailleur at some point following the moment the bike and I parted ways. I rode home without further incident.